Dr. Itamar Drori
Research
Scientific Areas of Expertise
- Co-editor of the Encyclopedia of the Jewish Story Project, which examines Jewish multiple-version stories using the methodological tools of the thematology of Jewish literature, founded and developed by Prof. Yoav Elstein and Prof. Avidov Lipsker. The fifth volume of the encyclopedia is currently being prepared.
- The historiography and poetics of modern Hebrew prose have occupied me since I wrote my doctorate on Hayim Hazaz's prose (2011) until today. In this framework, I teach and publish books and articles. Lately, I have focused on the prose of Mizrachi writers and the conflictual and crisis aspects of their Aliyah to Israel.
- Over the past decade, I have been researching the story of Mizrachi Jews in Jewish languages (Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic) in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and particularly of the Jews of Iraq – including mapping the stories from prints and manuscripts and tracing the ways in which they establish cultural consciousness.
Courses
- An Introduction to Modern Hebrew Literature.
In this course, we will follow the growth and development of Modern Hebrew literature, while reading a selection of its major works, from the eighteenth century to the forties of the twentieth century. In order to understand the background to its appearance, we will become acquainted with the main historical landmarks that shaped modern Jewish consciousness and aesthetics: the European Enlightenment and the Jewish Enlightenment, the Spring of Nations and the Gospel of Nationalism, the Communist Revolution, the pioneering Aliyot and the immigration movements. At the same time, we will consider the special reality of the multiplicity of languages among Hebrew writers and readers, the decision to choose Hebrew as a written language even though it was not a spoken language, and the development and history of the Hebrew 'Nosach'.
- Ma'aseh Nissim: Miracle Tales of Baghdadi Jews in the nineteenth century.
In this course we will look at the phenomenon of miracles as shaped in the tales of the Jews of Baghdad in the nineteenth century, in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. By reading stories interspersed with different genres, we will try to understand the contours of miracle and his functions in the plots of these stories, and to understand its place in the cultural consciousness of the recipients of this writing. These understandings will form the basis for dealing with the broad question of the status of the fictional storytale (the Ma'aseh) in the nineteenth-century Baghdadi Jewish space.
- Thematological Thought: Theory and Methodology.
The Thematology of Jewish literature was developed in the 1980s and 1990s at the Department of Literature of the Jewish people, as a methodological response to the need for sorting analytical tools for the multiple and multilingual existence of tales told in Jewish languages. In this course, we will discuss theoretical issues relevant to thematological research, from its roots in structuralist thought, comparative literature and folklore science, through the broad paradigm of 'Yisrael Literature' founded by Dov Sadan, as well as through issues of hermeneutics and intertextuality, to critical attitudes of poststructuralism and the later thought of the critique of postmodernism. The product of this course is the writing of a seminar paper that contrasts existing thematological research with theoretical perspectives studied during the year.
Publications
- Books as author
Drori, I. (2014). Yemenite Redemption and New Hebraism: The Novel 'Yaish' by Hayim Hazaz. Bar-Ilan University Press, 203 pp. (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2017). Hazaz: Sippur, Hayim. Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 274 pp. (In Hebrew).
- Articles and Chapters in Books
Drori, I. (2009). The Sabbath-Observing Cow. In Lipsker, A (Eds.). Encyclopedia of the Jewish Story: Sippur Okev Sippur (pp. 251-274). Bar-Ilan University Press (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2009). 'Dama ben Netinah'. In Lipsker, A (Eds.). Encyclopedia of the Jewish Story: Sippur Okev Sippur (pp. 183-214). Bar-Ilan University Press (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2013). The Beruria Incident. In Lipsker, A (Eds.). Encyclopedia of the Jewish Story: Sippur Okev Sippur (pp. 115-153). Bar Ilan University Press (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2014). 'Four Species in Literature'. In Drori, I (Eds.). Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) (Vol. 9, pp. 561-562). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Drori, I. (2014). 'Fringes in Literature'. In Drori, I (Eds.). Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) (Vol. 9, pp. 750-752). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Drori, I. (2014). Gehinnom (Gehenna) in Literature. In Drori, I (Eds.). Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) (Vol. 9, pp. 1078-1080). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Drori, I. (2018). Jewish printing press pioneers in Baghdad. In Drori, I (Eds.). Jewish Cultures in the Map: Interactive Explorations in Time and Space . I-Core Map-Project.
Drori, I. (2018). The Death of Balaam Son of Be'or. In Lipsker, A (Eds.). Encyclopedia of the Jewish Story: Sippur Okev Sippur (pp. 9-34). Bar Ilan University Press (In Hebrew).
- Articles in Periodicals (refereed articles)
Drori, I. (2014). The Beruriah Incident: Tradition of Exclusion as a Presence of Ethical
Principles. Pardes, uni. potsdam., 20, pp. 100-116.
Drori, I. (2016). Return of the Author – On 'Bell and Pomegranate' by Hayim Hazaz. Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature, 28, 139-165 (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2017). The Power of the Tongue: A Medieval Hebrew Story from Midrashic Literature. Fabula, , 319-334.
Drori, I. (2017). Babel as a Fantasy, as a Neurosis and as a Concreteness: Eli Amir's Mafriah Hayonim. Mikan: Journal for Literary Studies, Ben Gurion University of the Negev Press (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2018). The Law, the Miracle, and the Kabbalist: The Discourse on Miracles in the Legends of Rabbi Yosef Ḥayyim of Baghdad. Hebrew Studies, 201-230.
Drori, I. (2018). Elijah's Pocket and Everyday Miracles: On the Miracle Settings in the Work of Rabbi Yosef Hayim of Baghdad. Hador: the Hebrew Annual of America, , 208-217 (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2019). Rabbi Israele Costa's 'Miḳweh Yisrael' (1851) – The Beginning of the Adapted Jewish Story for Youth. Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore, 32, 55-88 (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2020). Two Days of Miracle of the Jews of Baghdad: The Historical Legend and its Role in Establishing Community Memory. Hador: The Hebrew Annual of America, 10, 184-192 (In Hebrew).
Drori, I. (2020). Encoding and Decoding Secret Signs in the Stories of Rabbi Joseph Hayyim of Baghdad. Journal of Jewish Studies 71, 2 , pp. 345–364.
D. Reviews of Books in periodicals
Drori, I. (2018). Song of the Whitewasher: An Anthology of Works on Jewish Wisdom and Modern Hebrew Literary Heritage – Book review. Hebrew Higher Education, 20, pp. 5-8.
Drori, I. (2018). Reading Modern Hebrew Poetry and Prose – Book review. Hebrew Higher Education, 20, pp. 1-5.
Non-Refereed Publications
Drori, I. (2017). Challenge of the Bitton Committee Recommendations. Bar-Siach, pp. 438-439 (In Hebrew).
Last Updated Date : 12/11/2024
